BAC CALCULATOR

BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT CALCULATOR

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A national survey conducted by the Century Council revealed that a shocking 70% of American adults did not know their states legal BAC limits and an alarming 78% did not know how much alcohol they would need to consume in order to reach and surpass the prescribed legal BAC limit for driving.

Help raise awareness by adding our BAC calculator to your web site

Every state in the U.S. has a legal BAC limit of 0.08% per se. Most states also have lower legal BAC limits for young and inexperienced drivers, professional drivers and commercial drivers. Sentences for drunk driving include imprisonment, large fines, lengthy drivers license suspension and/or revocation, house arrest, community service, DUI schools, alcohol treatment programs, vehicle forfeiture and ignition interlock restrictions.

You can use this calculator on your own web site or web page. Simply copy the code below and paste it into your web site or web page on facebook, myspace, bebo etc. The code below validates to W3C web standards.

No online BAC Calculator should be used to determine an individuals fitness to drive. There are so many variables and factors that can affect a specific individuals BAC level at any given time that the only failsafe and reliable way to calculate an individuals blood alcohol level at a precise moment in time is by blood analysis or a reliable and approved breathalyzer. This BAC calculator provides reliable estimates based on average biological values and scientific research and should be used for educational, research and information purposes only. If in doubt, use common sense and do not drive.

The DUI-USA.Drinkdriving.org Blood Alcohol Calculator

The DUI-USA.Drinkdriving.org BAC calculator is based on the widmark method of calculating blood alcohol content. The BAC calculator provides an accurate estimation of an individuals BAC at a certain period in time. Like any other online BAC calculator it cannot provide results with 100% accuracy due to the many variables that come into play (see below) that can affect an individuals BAC level. While the calculator takes into account age, gender, weight, drink amount, alcohol percentage and the period of time over which any alcohol has been consumed it, it is based on the consumption of alcohol by an average healthy human being.

What is Bac - Blood Alcohol Content?

Blood alcohol content is a measure of the amount of alcohol present in a certain amount of blood. It is usually described as the the amount of alcohol in mg per 100ml of blood. The prescribed legal drink driving limit in the USA is 80mg/100ml blood or 0.08%. Other countries in the world have different legal limits. It is a criminal offence to drive above the prescribed legal limit.

FACTORS THAT AFFECT YOUR BAC - Blood Alcohol Content

Numerous factors can affect an individuals BAC, these include:

The amount of alcohol a person consumes, the more they drink, the higher their BAC will become

The speed at which a person consumes alcohol, the faster a person drinks, the faster their BAC will rise

A persons gender. Alcohol is highly water soluble and a persons BAC is directly proportional to their total body water content. Females generally have less water in their bodies than males, this means that a female who drinks exactly the same amount of alcohol as a male, in the same space of time, will generally have a higher BAC.

A persons weight. The more a person weighs generally means the more water they will have in their bodies, meaning any alcohol ingested will produce a lower alcohol to blood ratio than that of a person weighing less. This is because the alcohol is "spread out" more "thinly".

A persons fat/muscle content. Fatty tissue does not absorb alcohol very well, alcohol will be absorbed a lot more into other tissues which are rich in water such as muscle. If two people weighing 90kg, one a tall thin person and the other a small fat person consumed the same amount of alcohol, the small fat person would have a higher BAC than the thin person.

A persons metabolism (the rate at which alcohol is processed and eliminated by the body). This can vary from person to person, however, the average person will eliminate 15ml of alcohol per hour. Heavy drinkers may have more active livers and can therefore eliminate more alcohol than average. People with liver disease may have less active livers and will therefore eliminate alcohol slower.

Medication and the amount of food in the stomach can also have an effect on the rate at which alcohol is absorbed into the body and subsequently eliminated. Younger people also tend to metabolize alcohol more quickly than older people.

BAC levels and the predictable effects on driving skills

BAC LEVEL

GENERAL EFFECTS

EFFECTS ON DRIVING SKILLS

0.02%

Some loss of judgment

Relaxation

Slight body warmth

Altered mood

Decline in visual functions (rapid tracking of a moving target)

Decline in ability to perform two tasks at the same time (divided attention)

0.05%

Exaggerated behavior

May have loss of small muscle control (focusing of eyes etc)

Impaired judgment

Lowered alertness

Inhibitions become lowered

Reduced co-ordination

Reduced ability to track moving objects

Increased difficulty in steering

Rapid response to emergency driving situations reduced

0.08%

Muscle co-ordination is reduced further reduced (balance, speech, vision, reaction times are all reduced)